Dear Parishioners,
“If you love me.” “Whoever loves me.” Our love is always a free choice and, as human beings, we are never quite sure of our choices. God’s love, on the other hand, is sure and steady. God continually sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. This indwelling Spirit empowers us to love with God’s steadfastness. Transformed by the Holy Spirit, our love moves from “if” to “I can, I choose, I will.” On this festival of Pentecost which concludes our celebration of the Resurrection, our celebration of Easter, we are given a Gift of Life so that we can faithfully take up Jesus’ saving mission. Pentecost is an invitation to choose to love … to choose to do … to choose to be risen Presence. This is the power of Pentecost and why we can continue Jesus’ ministry. The Holy Spirit imbues us with God’s love.
In the Gospel for the Solemnity of Pentecost, the emphasis is not so much on God’s power as on our receptivity to God’s indwelling presence which enables us to be faithful disciples. Both power and gentle relationship characterize the disciple who has received the Holy Spirit. God’s power in the Spirit gives birth to a new relationship of love and divine indwelling. The Spirit’s dwelling in us is the Father’s and Jesus’ love and the precondition for why we can continue Jesus’ mission. The Spirit is our “soul’s most welcome guest,” our “strength” (Sequence). The Holy Spirit is the source of the disciple’s life and mission. Filled with the Spirit, disciples are able to love as Jesus loves.
We can be sure of God’s steadfast Love dwelling in us because God’s very nature is to be love and God cannot act against the divine nature. God is love. For God to act is love. The Father’s love for disciples and Jesus’ abiding presence with and in them is the Holy Spirit. Here is the significance of Pentecost … divine indwelling (“make our dwelling”), outfitting for mission (“teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you”), and a way of life (“love Me … keep My commandments … keep My Word”). Easter culminates in Pentecost when Jesus’ risen life is shared with us in a most profound way through the coming of the Spirit. We ourselves now go forth to carry on Jesus’ mission … equipped with divine indwelling. We are never alone in our demanding discipleship. The Holy Spirit is always with us.
The Holy Spirit is not a Gift like other gifts we might receive – open them, appreciate and use them, wear them out, or discard them. The Spirit received in Baptism and the Spirit’s presence is strengthened in Confirmation so that we might carry on Jesus’ saving mission. The more we respond to the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, the more we are immersed in God’s very love. The choice to love becomes more clear, more focused. The Spirit brings us to a single-mindedness about our love and about our choice to take up Jesus’ saving mission.
Sometimes in our lives we might witness to a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we must confront another who has done wrong and refuses to change, stand up to injustice, or challenge another to more ethical and generous living. Sometimes in our lives we might witness to a gentler, relational Spirit. Perhaps we spend extra quality time with the children, visit elderly relatives and bring them some cheer, or help someone pick up the pile of oranges which has come tumbling down in the grocery store. In these great and simple acts, the Holy Spirit works through us and moves us from “if” to “I can, I choose, I will.”
May Saint Michael the Archangel defend, guide, protect, and intercede for us always!
Fr. Larry